Paper

docx

School

Columbia Southern University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

FIR 2303

Subject

English

Date

Apr 3, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by bisselleric

1 Unit III Essay Eric Bissell Columbia Southern University Fire Behavior and Combustion Professor Jim Gibson February 13, 2024

2 On June 21, crews from the City of Columbia Southern Fire Department were dispatched to an apartment fire at 4414 Mayes Street. The arriving crews arrived on scene to find dense black smoke issuing from the alpha side. As normal, E-2 performed efficiently in deploying handlines to the second floor for fire attack. They were forced to their knees in the hallway due to high heat and heavy smoke conditions. After making entry into the main fire room, the officer realized this was no longer a room and content fire, but the entire apartment involved. For this to happen, many different events had to take place. At approximately 0700, a small fire was started on top of the stove. The origin and cause of the fire was an unattended pan. The grease in the pan was headed up until it reached ignition. This was the incipient phase of the fire. As heat and smoke from the pan filled the apartment, the contents within the kitchen began to break down and off gas releasing products of combustion. The pyrolysis process continued throughout the entire apartment. This point of the is known as the growth stage. As the temperature and fuel load grew, the products of combustion then reached flashover and the entire apartment was now involved in fully developed stage. The decay phase was not reached until after the fire was extinguished by fire personnel on the scene. A major contributing factor to the high rate of fire spreading through the structure was the fire self-venting from the main fire room. The fire self-vented because of the flashover in room 2-B. A flashover is defined by the NFPA as the sudden, simultaneous ignition of everything in a room (Scheviak, 2021). The amount energy that was released by the flashover caused the window to fail. With the front door now open and the venting from the alpha side, the fire was now bi-directional. This led to the fire spreading to the floor above them and eventually into the attic causing the crews on scene to change from an offensive strategy to a defensive one.

3 References Gann, R. (2014). Principles of Fire Behavior and Combustion (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781284081879 Kuznetsov, G., Volkov, R., Sviridenko, A., & Zhdanova, A. (2022). Compartment Fire Behavior at the Stages of Detection, Containment and Suppression Using Water Mist. Fire (2571-6255), 5(5), 155–N.PAG. https://doi-org.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/10.3390/fire5050155 Scheviak, T. (2021, January 6). What are the different stages of a fire?. Firetrace International. https://www.firetrace.com/fire-protection-blog/different-stages-of-a-fire#:~:text=NFPA %20921%20defines%20flashover%20as,total%20involvement%20of%20the%20compartment

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Paper

Related Documents